Once somebody asked me if I ever saw a clock with day and date indication in Dutch. The background of this question appeared to be his helping of a friend, whose memory was deteriorating as a result of advancing age. Thereby the old man gradually was losing knowledge of day and time. In fact the desired kind of clock existed, but unfortunately only in English and the old friend was no longer able to understand this language either. At this point I suggested to present date, day and time by means of a computer. The rather simple program was soon performed, but at the same time I realized that a computer offered a much wider potential. As a next step a collection of old and new photos was added, changing a photo every hour. Long forgotten photos turned out to stimulate the friend’s memory and soon a few hundred photos were implemented. Furthermore, a reminder at bedtime was added: the computer screen turned to black with the text; “Sleep well”, the program starting again the next morning at seven. To point out that it was bedtime at eleven, a black screen with the text 'Sleep well' at eleven p.m. and at half past twelve the screen became all black and next morning at seven the normal program started again. Unfortunately, the old friend’s memory became worse and worse. He would leave home at moments that a nurse would arrive for help, and often he forgot to take his medication. For this reason warnings were added to the program in order to remind him to taking his medicine, as well as on planned visits of a nurse or on necessary medical treatments. And titled ‘Miscellaneous’, any desired message could be made visible on the screen. Taking a meal was also often forgotten. Therefore at five p.m. the photo of a microwave oven was present, accompanied by a spoken announcement that the time had come to heat the meal. At six this message was repeated, this time followed by the wish ‘Enjoy your meal’. Birthday dates of dear persons were introduced into the program together with a photo of this dear person and, if wished, by a short melody, appropriate to the occasion. It meant great satisfaction to the person, who inspired me to this programming, as well as for myself, when my inspirer received a birthday wish by phone from his old friend; he did read his birthday!

Once somebody asked me if I ever saw a clock with day and date indication in Dutch. The background of this question appeared to be his helping of a friend, whose memory was deteriorating as a result of advancing age. Thereby the old man gradually was losing knowledge of day and time. In fact the desired kind of clock existed, but unfortunately only in English and the old friend was no longer able to understand this language either. At this point I suggested to present date, day and time by means of a computer. The rather simple program was soon performed, but at the same time I realized that a computer offered a much wider potential. As a next step a collection of old and new photos was added, changing a photo every hour. Long forgotten photos turned out to stimulate the friend’s memory and soon a few hundred photos were implemented. Furthermore, a reminder at bedtime was added: the computer screen turned to black with the text; “Sleep well”, the program starting again the next morning at seven. To point out that it was bedtime at eleven, a black screen with the text 'Sleep well' at eleven p.m. and at half past twelve the screen became all black and next morning at seven the normal program started again. Unfortunately, the old friend’s memory became worse and worse. He would leave home at moments that a nurse would arrive for help, and often he forgot to take his medication. For this reason warnings were added to the program in order to remind him to taking his medicine, as well as on planned visits of a nurse or on necessary medical treatments. And titled ‘Miscellaneous’, any desired message could be made visible on the screen. Taking a meal was also often forgotten. Therefore at five p.m. the photo of a microwave oven was present, accompanied by a spoken announcement that the time had come to heat the meal. At six this message was repeated, this time followed by the wish ‘Enjoy your meal’. Birthday dates of dear persons were introduced into the program together with a photo of this dear person and, if wished, by a short melody, appropriate to the occasion. It meant great satisfaction to the person, who inspired me to this programming, as well as for myself, when my inspirer received a birthday wish by phone from his old friend; he did read his birthday!